When I got back from India missions, I forgot to re-set my alarm. The result was predictable. With a body still adjusting to the different time-zone back home in M'sia, I woke up late and had to forego my early morning walk besides cutting short my daily 'appointment' with God. 2 days later, I forgot to bring a cap that was needed for a school lesson though I had already put it out on the sofa the night before. It's no use tying a string round my finger to remind me, because I forget what the string signifies. So I find myself having to write down things to do because otherwise I forget. Actually even after I write them down, I still forget to do them sometimes.
And it's getting more frequent these days. I could be typing something on the PC, turn around to attend to something else, and find my mind a blank when I return to the first task. Hmmm, I wonder is it 'old age' setting in? I read somewhere apparently brain cells die and don't get replaced as humans grow older. Is that the reason I am (seemingly) getting more and more forgetful? But then how does that explain why the young adults in the family also 'forget' simple recurring stuff like bringing dirty laundry down from their rooms on wash-days? Or taking out the rubbish after dinner? Or shutting off the water-filter valve after filling up their bottles? I am sure I am not the only mom who has to nag about household chores 'forgotten' and not done.
Yet I can remember very clearly things stretching back into time past, things from my childhood. I recall the nite I saw my mother try to hang herself from the window ledge when I was 5 years old. I can see the small rented room we stayed in; cramped with paper bags of our meager belongings hung on nails in the walls. We slept on mats laid out on the wooden floor, I in the middle between my dad and mom. I even remember the landlord and his entire family of 7 occupying the rest of the house; I would hang around his kids as much as I could, hoping to get invited for a free sumptuous meal at their table, because my mom didn't cook at all. By the grace of God, I have come to terms with such memories and laid them to rest, but I still remember.
And of course I remember also the fun times in school....hanging out with my Convent mates, practicing the very first play I wrote - some silly ghost story. Giggling, ogling and sighing over boys. So many things I remember about university life - being 'ragged' by seniors who later became frens, climbing the gates after a nite out at the local disco...and more to remember like the pair of chopsticks my boyfren returned after we had a tiff, which led to a marriage proposal.....my pink wedding gown. I remember 17 years down the line how (then) strangers from the church thoughtfully on their own initiative at their own expense bought me groceries as my husband's body lay in a coffin in the house. I never forget my brother-in-law rushing in from Penang just in time to sing Amazing Grace as my husband breathed his last.
What makes certain things stick in our heads? And why are we all prone to forget some other things? People have likened memory to a "sepulcher of broken bones" or "a nursery in which children who have grown old play with their broken toys". A psychiatrist defines memory as "not just the imprint of the past upon us; it is the keeper of what is meaningful for our deepest hopes and fears". I am sure there are plenty of scientific and psychological studies to explain the phenomenon of why we remember some things and forget others. But what strikes me is that it doesn't matter whether it's good or bad. Our memories are a mixture of both, tho I am sure everyone would prefer not to remember 'bad' stuff. On the other hand, it's strange that we can actually 'forget' what is good.
Renown preacher and author Charles Spurgeon said, "We write our blessings in the sand and engrave our complaints in the marble". That's how selective human memory is. We are so apt to mutter about this or that thing, person or event that disappoints, irritates or angers us. But we can so easily take for granted the stuff that we assume are ours by right. Like waking up to another morning. Like eating 3 decent (or more) meals daily. Like having family and friends. Like living in a land with no earthquakes or volcanic eruptions. Like being uniquely one-of-a-kind nation with so many different races. Like enjoying some 50 odd years of prosperity and peace in this country, relatively speaking that is.
We think we are the ones who made it all possible. So we look to ourselves, political parties, corporations, human ingenuity and worldly wisdom to carve out our niche in our plot of earth. For people of my generation, we are so proud to karaoke along to Frank Sinatra's old tune "I Did It MY Way" or for the feminists, their all-time fave must be Helen Reddy's "I Am WOMAN, Hear Me Roar." I don't know what today's youngsters are singing, but I know they are always hooked onto their I-pads, I-fones, and whatever "I" gadget there is. Heck, even the 'older' generation is involved in the same pursuits; the idea being if we can't beat them, we might as well join them; otherwise we end up like extinct dinosaurs. How apt that everything in this generation is tagged "I" - the epitome of self on the hero's pedestal.
To be sure, there's absolutely nothing wrong with individuality, hard work and honest labor. And certainly science and technology is a wonderful tool. The only problem is when we make them idols and think we are all we need to live a successful life. That's when we so easily forget there is a Maker of heaven and earth, a Creator, Sustainer and Preserver of all life. As the Bible puts it so pointedly, God "knows how we are formed, He remembers that we are dust" (Psalm 103:14). What will it take for man to acknowledge and remember a God "who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit (of hell), and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s" (Psalm 103: 3-5).
We forget there is such a thing called grace, being given benefits which we don't deserve; and that can only come from the hands of a God who blesses. Jesus said, "He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous" (Matthew 5:45). That's irrespective of whether we believe in Him or not. In fact even more, despite all our rebellion and faithlessness, "He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities" (Psalm 103:10). We forget there is such a thing called mercy, not being given what we do deserve, and that also can only come from the heart of a loving God.
I guess it's very easy to forget because God is not reducible to our physical senses. With so many (more important) things to occupy our days, issues like sin, redemption, faith, death, heaven and hell are best left on the shelf of 'non-essential' abstract stuff.. Let what comes come. So we conveniently, intentionally or unintentionally forget God. But fortunately God doesn't forget us. So it is that Jesus came to earth to show us God. Still it's much easier to think of Jesus as just a nice fella who taught good things, than have to decide if He is who He says He really is - the God who condescended to become man, who chose to die and resurrect to let us know there is - more importantly - an eternity to come. We would rather forget inconvenient truths which are hard to accept by writing them off as 'impossible'. We never stop to consider that the things God does have to be impossible; that's why they are called miracles.
We can let go, disregard, forget, even deny God, but God is still God, and He remembers. So, how can we not remember....?
“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me." - Isaiah 49:15-16
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